The Identity of the United Nations

Experimental articulation through a dynamic system of metaphors

Towards an image-based language: the current socio-political function
of metaphors

The notion of "United Nations" is more and more a challenge to comprehension.
In order to clarify understanding of such complexity, statesmen make use
of notions which are both simple and symbolic. "The House of Europe" and
"European Space" are examples of this approach. Such metaphors serve as
vehicles to suggest approaches with many strategic implications. They fulfil
the function of codes to communicate among cognoscenti and as key phrases
in the interaction with public opinion.

The fundamental problems of United Nations integration raise the question
of the extent to which metaphors currently used are of adequate richness
to articulate strategic options which are both useful and viable. The dilemma
remains the necessity, on the one hand, to reflect the richness of the
complexity of which any United Nations strategy must take account, and,
on the other, to make available an integrative image capable of "enchanting"
people seeking some sense in the development of their personal and professional
lives. This dilemma is made all the more problematic by the multiplicity
of cultures and schools of thought, as well the diverse marginal groups.

Why this emphasis on metaphors instead of relying on the language of
models? In part this is because in the elaboration of strategic policy
it seems less and less useful to employ the old language in which so many
reports have been presented. Despite the level of expertise and the complexity
of the models, such reports have tended to be "forgettable", in the words
of the Economist in describing the recent South Report (1990). We are being
overtaken by events.

Media communicability has become increasingly important to the life
of political initiatives. It is the ultimate constrain in social and political
transformation. It is therefore useful to note the developing role of metaphor
in articulating or opposing social transformation. Boris Yeltsin recently
chose to describe Mikhael Gobrachev's compromise reforms as a "marriage
between a hedgehog and a snake". Such imagery, of which there are many
examples, easily undermines the best of initiatives.

It would seem that the struggle has shifted from the world of ideas
to the world of images. Commentators everywhere remark on the sterility
of proposals in the eyes of voters. Instead of the "power of imagination",
there is a bankruptcy of imagination.

The cognitive function of metaphors

Recent research has demonstrated the cognitive function and influence
of metaphors in the most disciplined and rigorous thinking. Examples in
the natural sciences, and even in fundamental physics, are cited. The same
is true in the social sciences and notably in understanding of organizations
and their management. It appears that metaphors, whether explicit or implicit,
are essential to the ordering of cognitive elements. Furthermore it is
now almost impossible to extricate them from the language of many disciplines.
As examples the following may be noted: a "field" of study, the "direction"
of research, a "line" of argument, a "target" audience, "mobilization"
of resources. It has been shown that, beyond its rhetoric functions, the
choice of a metaphor may be crucial to the kinds of communication which
become possible or impossible. A recent study of the metaphors underlying
the Gulf War even suggests that "metaphors can kill".

A new inspiration: the spiritual function of metaphors

All the religions use metaphors to render comprehensible the most complex
and subtle notions. It is with the help of metaphors that people are most
profoundly touched in relation to those hopeful factors which give meaning
to personal and social life. And it is with the assistance of certain metaphors
that new inspiration has been given to cultures fatigued by old formulas
and received ideas.

The importance of keystones

It is not that models are ineffective or inadequate. The difficulty
is rather in the incompatibility of models, however useful in different
specialized domains, and in the weaknesses which emerge as a result in
any supposedly integrated strategy. Suspicion concerning integrative models
has become a wise precaution.

Beyond any structural modifications, the key to the success of future
strategies appears to lie in the imaginative manner in which valid, but
incompatible, initiatives are woven together. The challenge is highlighted
by the absence of models adequate to the reconciliation of "centralized"
and "market" economic strategies in the countries of Eastern Europe. There
are no available models because the challenge to the imagination transcends
the world of model builders by which strategies have been so influenced.
It could be concluded that new possibilities for United Nations are to
be found beyond the strategic incompatibilities in which visions of its
future tend to become entangled.

It is metaphors which provide the imagination with "keystones" to balance
the tensions between tendencies which, without such integrative elements,
would appear incompatible. World governance in this sense is a question
of "imagination building" rather than "institution building". Governance
of United Nations at the highest level should therefore focus attention
on the emergence and movement of policy-relevant metaphors -- that are
capable of rendering comprehensible the way forward through complex window
of opportunity. The challenge lies in marrying new metaphors to models
to ensure the embodiment of new levels of insight in appropriate organizational
form.

A transcendental United Nations identity

The identity of the United Nations is thus closely associated with the
"gene pool" of metaphors. From this the United Nations community may draw
fruitful metaphors in the formulation of responses to new opportunities
and crises.

This vision of United Nations governance does not call for radical transformation
of institutions. Rather it calls for a shift in the way of thinking about
what is circulated through society's information systems as the triggering
force for any action. At present governance in the international community
is haunted by a form of collective schizophrenia -- a left-brain preoccupation
with "serious" academic models and administrative programmes, and a right-brain
preoccupation with the proclivities of public opinion avid for "meaningful"
action (even if "sensational;"). This quarrel between models and metaphors
could be transformed by focusing more effectively on the metaphoric dimensions
already so vital to any sustainable motivation of public opinion.

The identity of United Nations should not be so closely linked to the
seemingly impossible task of maintaining a consensus on particular solutions
as appropriate, and therefore "correct". The identity to cultivate is should
be detached from this level of short and medium term preoccupation. This
confusion favours tokenism and unimplemented resolutions which in turn
reinforce cynicism, alienation and loss of credibility. In these times
all simple solutions eventually become problems, just all problems are
in effect unpleasant solutions. The creative opportunity is to cultivate
instead an understanding of how incompatible solutions can be woven together
as phases over time in a cycle of policies. It is metaphors -- such as
crop rotation -- which make comprehensible and credible such a complex
approach. It is at this level of conservation and generation of metaphors
that may be found a dynamic United Nations identity appropriate to a sustainable
development.

How to proceed ?

What approach should be taken to the possibility of choosing a metaphor
to better articulate the identity of United Nations in such circumstances?
Five criteria should be considered:

(a) Adequate to capture the variety of options: Clearly a metaphor
must be rich enough so that each may find in it the dimensions to which
he or she is sensitive. There is therefore advantage in highlighting those
which reflect the most advanced thinking of our civilization -- those touching
the frontiers of aspiration to explore our potential and articulating our
comprehension of the most complex domains. But, although of necessary complexity,
these metaphors must allow for simple comprehension, preferably permitting
clarification by rich and evocative imagery.

(b) Opening options: A useful metaphor must avoid the problem
of over-deterministic models which leave no "free space" for the imagination
to explore and make discoveries. Better than static metaphors, those which
embody a dynamic reality open more possibilities to the imagination. They
lessen the impression of exhaustiveness and determinism -- having less
of a function of a conceptual straitjacket. Such metaphors "seduce" and
enchant the spirit. Their meaning can be "mined" according to people's
degree of need and curiosity.

(c) Recognition of limitations: As with every model, a metaphor
can only give a partial image of a complex reality. And like a model, a
given metaphor may not be to the taste of everyone. A metaphor has a limited
audience (or a "market") which may be a function of culture, education
or age. Consequently any effort to impose a single metaphor is therefore
destined to failure (even though this may be disguised to the extent that
there may be resistance to the meaning carried by the metaphor, which is
then seen as a sterile dogma).

(d) Dynamic system of complementary metaphors: The limitations
of any given metaphor may be compensated, provided that it is seen as forming
part of a set of complementary metaphors. Then the weaknesses of one are
compensated by the strengths of others, and the dominating points any one
metaphor is constrained or checked by the insights brought by others. In
such a system of metaphors, each has more chance of finding an appropriate,
and even seductive, perspective than through any single metaphor.

(e) Recursive nature of metaphors selected: A complex system
is always a challenge to comprehension. This is also true in the case of
a system of metaphors. Such metaphors should therefore be chosen on the
basis of their individual capacity to provide some comprehension of the
system of which they are part. This criterion guarantees, to some degree
at least, the integrity and the coherence of the system.

In Search of an Adequate System of Metaphors

In the advertising and media worlds, considerable sums are invested
in research on the image of for a corporation or a brand. The choice of
political or strategic metaphors is usually done with much less effort
and without any "market research". What follows can only be considered
a first selection of possible metaphors, with all the reservations that
implies:

(a) United Nations as an ecology of options: An ecological metaphor
implies a dynamic interplay of species, some in symbiosis others in competition
for available resources. The "species" in this case may be understood as
the political tendencies, factions, pressure groups, or strategic options
-- from the most conventional to the most marginal. There may be thousands
of species, from the largest to the smallest. It is up to each person to
understand the nature of this ecology and its cycles of energy, to find
in it the niches which can be occupied, and the appropriate dynamics with
respect to partners and competitors. Of course an ecosystem can be enriched
or impoverished by dynamic effects resulting from disequilibria in the
shorter or longer term. The system of metaphors, or ways of thinking, may
itself be understood as an ecology. This metaphor is better understood
by those sensitive to the environment and to the management of its many
aspects.

(b) United Nations a physiology of interdependent organs: The
State has often been compared to the human body. This metaphor may be applied
to United Nations in its entirety. What are its organs -- the Member States,
United Nations institutions? Should the notion of an organ not be extended
to all organisations, commercial bodies, and pressure groups? It is clear
that what makes them interdependent is the circulation between them of
different forms of energy and resources (notably information). The study
of the physiology of this body, its respiration, its digestion, the elimination
of its waste products, and even its development, may all be explored in
terms of its regulatory systems (nervous system, hormonal system, etc).
The system of metaphors, or ways of thinking, may itself be understood
as a body of knowledge with its organs and physiology. This metaphor would
be most fruitful for those sensitive to the notion of health, and especially
to the health of the body as a whole rather than of its organs taken individually.

(c) United Nations as a nuclear fusion reactor: The great challenge
for the technology of the future is to master the energy resulting from
nuclear fusion. For many years all efforts have been focused on the way
in which to constrain the energies released in order to create the most
propitious conditions for the processes of nuclear fusion and the extraction
of the excess energy engendered. The challenge lies in the appropriate
configuration of elements which act as a container for the plasma -- a
special form of energy facilitating the fusion process. As for the configuration
of United Nations structures and processes, the difficulty lies in the
fact that if the new form of energy makes contact momentarily with the
elements constituting the container, it is denatured and completely loses
its force in an unuseful discharge. The United Nations identity, sought
as a generator of new social energy, suffers from similar constraints.
It can only emerge in all its force to the extent that it is not subject
to this or that national or United Nations structure -- structures which
are, paradoxically, designed to create the conditions propitious for its
generation. The system of metaphors, or of ways of thinking, may itself
be understood as a configuration of elements, of which each is necessary
but is also capable of completely denaturing (or "quenching") that form
of comprehension which can only be based on the whole.

(d) United Nations as an organic molecule of variable geometry:
The notion of variable geometry is part of the United Nations discourse
as a way of reconciling acceptance of different institutional structures.
There are some organic molecules, notably benzene (key to organic life),
whose stability derives principally from continuous alternation between
a limited number (two to five) distinct geometrical forms. This phenomenon
of resonance permits the existence of molecules in situations where the
component structures are impossible, or require a level of constituting
energy which makes their creation improbable. Such hybrid molecules, based
on distinct geometries in resonance, require less energy to ensure their
stability than their component elements. Is it not possible to envisage
for United Nations and identity, or its structuring, based on an analogous
form of resonance between component structures which would otherwise be
completely incompatible? After all, the United Nations movement is based
on the notion a structure appropriate to the whole would be more stable
and more "economic" that the disorderly interactions between totally independent
States. But such a structuring could only emerge through the dynamic between
more limited structures. The system of metaphors, or ways of thinking,
can itself be understood as based on a dynamic resonance between more limited
metaphors. This metaphor is more readily understood by those sensitive
to the apparently improbable structures recognized by the natural sciences.

(e) United Nations as a pattern of circulating traffic: It is
perhaps the network of roads and railways which represents the identity
of United Nations in the most concrete and experiential manner. Most of
the population has acquired familiarity with traffic. Each is obliged to
integrate, even at a neuro-muscular level, certain rules and behaviours
necessary to survival in this network and in order to benefit from it.
The movement of meaning throughout the United Nations community may be
understood as a movement of vehicles in a complex network linking both
central points, known to all, and positions known only to specialists.
From this perspective the main political schools of thought and action
take the form of major motorways with provision for traffic in both directions,
not to mention the so-called national or secondary roads. Each road thus
represents a "preoccupation vector" or a form of collective action. But
it is clear, in the light of the number of "accidents" and "collisions",
that people are far from having achieved the insight appropriate to intersections
and a "highway code" for the socio-political equivalent. This is despite
the rich range of possible models, experienced on a daily and habitual
basis: red lights, stop signs, traffic circles, priority systems, tunnels,
etc). The system of metaphors, or ways of thinking, may also be understood
as a configuration of distinct comprehension pathways. This metaphor offers
insight to any user of the road.

(f) United Nations as a crop rotation cycle: Every peasant farmer
understands the necessity of crop rotation in a field in order to avoid
the accumulation of the negative consequences resulting from planting of
an one species. The farmer knows that, to ensure the sustainable development
of his field, he can grow one crop in that field for a period but must
then replace it by a different crop to remedy the defects to the soil caused
by the first. He may have to grow a third and a fourth species before finally
returning to the first in his crop rotation cycle. It is the cycle which
guarantees sustainability, not any particular crop. This well-tested approach
suggests the possibility that no one policy in a given domain can be maintained
beyond a certain period without accumulating negative side-effects. And
it is therefore with a distinct and complementary policy that these effects
may be partially counter-acted. Thus to guarantee any form of sustainable
development, a cycle of distinct policies is necessary in which each compensates
for the action of others. This is of course the implicit message of democracy
-- but what political party would publicly recognize the need for the policies
of others to compensate for the negative side-effects of its own? The identity
of United Nations must necessarily emerge beyond the concepts and positions
of parties which each contribute to its definition. It is at the level
of the appropriately balanced cycle that the identity of United Nations
may usefully be understood. The system of metaphors, or of ways of thinking,
may itself be understood as a cycle of metaphors, each with its strong
and weak points. It is clear that this metaphor will appeal most to those
with agricultural concerns -- and especially those concerned with so-called
organic agriculture.

How many complementary metaphors are necessary to sustain insight into
the rich subtleties of the identity of United Nations? Would it not be
natural for a major metaphor to be associated with each domain with which
a major policy or government ministry is associated -- or with each "general
directorate" of United Nations institutions? It would be possible to understand
the identity of United Nations: as a system of navigation; as a collection
of temples or ministries; as an interplay of cultural spaces; as a system
of learning and development environments; as an olympiad of competitions;
and as a building (as a way of exploring the positive implications of the
notion of a "United Nations fortress").

References

Anthony Judge:

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[text]

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